Julie.[With the knife in her hand.] I want to, but I can’t do it. My father couldn’t do it either—the time when he ought to have.
John. No; he shouldn’t have done it—his first duty was to revenge himself.
Julie. And now my mother avenges herself again through me.
John. Have you never loved your father, Miss Julie?
Julie. Yes, infinitely—but I’m sure that I’ve hated him as well. I must have done it without having noticed it myself, but he brought me up to despise my own sex, to be half a woman and half a man. Who is to blame for what has happened? My father, my mother, I myself? I myself? I haven’t got a self at all, I haven’t got a thought which I don’t get from my father, I haven’t got a passion which I don’t get from my mother, and the latest phase—the equality of men and women—that I got from my fiance, whom I called a scoundrel for his pains. How then can it be my own fault? To shove the blame on Jesus like Christine does—no, I’ve got too much pride and too much common sense for that—thanks to my father’s teaching. And as for a rich man not being able to get into the kingdom of heaven, that’s a lie. Christine has got money in the savings bank. Certainly she won’t get in. Who is responsible for the wrong? What does it matter to us who is? I know I’ve got to put up with the blame and the consequences.
John. Yes—but [There are two loud rings in succession. JULIE starts; JOHN quickly changes his coat, on the left.] The Count’s at home—just think if Christine [He goes to the speaking tube at the back, whistles, and listens.]
Julie. He must have already gone to his secretary by now.
John. It’s John, my lord. [He listens. What the Count says is inaudible.] Yes, my lord. [He listens.] Yes, my lord. At once. [He listens.] Very well, my lord. [He listens.] Yes, in half-an-hour.
Julie.[Extremely nervous.] What did he say? My God! what did he say?
John. He asked for his boots and his coffee in half-an-hour.